Cloud Architect

Effectual Cloud Architects are responsible for the technical leadership of Professional Services projects. They partner with Engagement Managers (EMs) to deliver an exceptional experience for customers and the delivery team. Effectual Cloud Architects are “Brand Ambassadors” and are expected to demonstrate Effectual’s experience and expertise through the delivery of high-quality, leading-practice solutions to customers.

Cloud Architects lead delivery teams. On a given day, you may be asked to:

• Design and document a system on AWS to meet customer requirements.
• Meet with a customer or internal team member to troubleshoot, educate, and unblock implementation progress.
• Partner with an Engagement Manager to craft customer communication.
• Gather requirements, document the current state, and educate customers on your solution approach.
• Jump on a pre-sales call to demonstrate Effectual’s expertise and experience to a potential customer.

Soft Skills Required:

• Problem-solving: Ability to define which issues need to be addressed, and the variables that may affect their resolution. Plus the ability to produce solutions that effectively address business and IT issues through technical analysis, troubleshooting, research, evaluation, and communication.
• Consensus building: Discussing with stakeholders and reaching an agreement on the problem and solution. This requires both strong verbal and written communication skills to settle conflicts.
• Leadership: Strong leadership skills are needed to empower employees and IT teams to stay on task and meet deadlines.
• Knowledge: Fluency in developing and using solution architecture frameworks, patterns, and best practices to drive business transformation.

• Championing technical excellence by:
  • Driving the implementation of leading practice architecture for assigned clients.
  • Architecting and building solutions in AWS (e.g., Landing Zones, container platforms, application hosting environments, data storage solutions, etc.) using various AWS services like Control Tower, EKS/ECS, S3, Transit Gateway, EC2, etc.
  • Conducting cost-benefit and risk-reward analyses
  • Designing solutions, development and deployment plans, and high-level solution validation processes for execution by delivery teams
  • Being accountable for the overall technical success of client projects
  • Working with technology management to refine project management processes to continually improve technical delivery efficacy.
  • Assisting in prioritizing and sequencing infrastructure projects, supporting project work breakdown activities, helping to remove roadblocks, and collaboratively resolving disagreements related to solution design.
• Fostering continual learning and collaboration by:
  • Serving as a mentor to team members around leading practices
  • Educating clients on solution rationale and leading practices
  • Building consensus amongst all technical stakeholders
• Supporting rigorous project governance and execution through:
  • Meeting with team members daily to review progress.
  • Challenging team members on technical solution approaches and holding them accountable for implementation success.
  • Submit time on assigned projects daily.
• Supporting project delivery team members by:
  • Always operating with transparency
  • Being responsive to requests from team members for information
  • Communicating working preferences and understanding others' working preferences to help develop a high-performing team that operates with respect, effectiveness, and efficiency.

• 5+ years of continual, prior experience working as a Solution Architect, consisting, in parallel, of at least:
  • 3+ years architecting AWS infrastructure.
  • 3+ years building AWS infrastructure, including at least:
    • 1+ year of infrastructure as code experience (Terraform preferred)
    • 1+ year of DevOps toolchain experience (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, AWS Code* Suite)
  • Knowledge of the primary AWS services (EC2, ELB, RDS, Route53 & S3)
  • AWS SysOps Administration experience
  • Security – Working experience with AWS Cloud Security Architecture
  • Strong track record of implementing AWS services in a variety of distributed computing environments
  • Experience facilitating discussions with senior leadership regarding technical/architectural trade-offs, best practices, and risk mitigation
  • Leading highly available and fault-tolerant enterprise and web-scale software deployments
  • Experience managing data center operations, including data assurance, monitoring, alerting and notifications
  • Demonstrated ability to think strategically about business, product, and technical challenges
  • At least one (1) AWS Professional certification
  • Strong working knowledge of leading AWS cloud security practices
  • Proficient in developing Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g., Terraform / AWS CloudFormation)
  • Proficient in coding configuration management tooling (e.g., Ansible, Chef, Puppet, etc.)
  • Proficient in at least one programming/scripting language (e.g., Python, Java, Node, etc.)
  • Demonstrable knowledge of Agile and Waterfall SDLC methodologies
  • Ability to work with multiple clients in parallel.
  • Attention to detail.
  • Exceptional communication and time management

• Additional AWS certifications (e.g., Developer Associate, SysOps Administrator Associate, Solution Architect Associate, etc.)
• Prior management experience is helpful, even though this is an individual contributor role.
• Container development
• Container orchestration using platforms such as Kubernetes, Docker, AWS EKS, etc.
• Implementing static and dynamic code analysis tools within CI/CD pipelines
• Use code analysis tools such as AWS X-Ray, AppDynamics, Dynatrace, etc.
• Ability to work Eastern Standard Time Zone schedule, but support customers in different regions

Full-time employees are eligible to participate in our employee benefit programs:

• Medical, dental, and vision health insurances,
• Short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance,
• 401 (k) with Company match
• Paid time off (PTO) (120 hours PTO that accrue over one year)
• Paid time off for major holidays (14 days per year)
• These and any other employee benefit offerings are subject to management’s discretion and may change at any time. 

Physical Demands and Work Environment  

The work is generally performed in an office environment.  Physical demands include sitting, keyboarding, verbal communication, and written communication.  Employees are occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with hands and arms, climb or balance, and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. 

Salary Range: $160,000-$185,000

"Salary ranges provided are for informational purposes only and may vary depending on factors such as experience, qualifications, and geographic location. The final salary offer will be determined based on the candidate's skills and alignment with the role requirements.” 

This job description may not be inclusive of all assigned duties, responsibilities, or aspects of the job described, and may be amended anytime at the sole discretion of the Employer. Duties and responsibilities are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” relationship. Effectual Inc. is an EEO employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any protected classification in its hiring, promoting, or any other job-related opportunity.